CCH knows tax preparation. It's been in business since 1913, the year the U.S. Federal income tax was created. While not exactly a household name, the company is a leading provider of software and services for tax, accounting, and audit professionals. Ten years ago, CCH introduced CompleteTax, an online tax-preparation program designed for the personal market but backed up by CCH's long-standing expertise. New features offered in the 2008 version include a revamped design and improved help options. I like CompleteTax; it's thorough, guidance-rich, and inexpensive. I think anyone who's used it in the past and liked it should stick with it. But if you've never filed electronically before, there are other apps that are easier to use and cheaper, too. For example, the boxed version of TurboTax costs more, but the online version of TurboTax Deluxe costs about the same as CompleteTax Premium.

CompleteTax's new site design looks good. CCH has made efficient use of screen space overall, and your eye is drawn to the right place naturally on each page, which makes the experience reasonably pleasant. Still, CompleteTax can't beat TurboTax for interface excellencefew software makers in the business space can match Intuit in this regard. CompleteTax's interface is on a par with that of H&R Block TaxCut.

CompleteTax works just like desktop tax preparation software. It walks you through the 1040 and its assorted forms and schedules, asking questions and dropping your answers into the correct fields. But CCH differs from the competition by not using the interview method to get W-2 data. Rather, it provides a reproduction of a W-2 form on the screen. Since this is just a matter of copying numbers from a printed form, I don't consider this a serious shortcoming. Besides, CompleteTax imports payroll data from ADP, Ceridian, and W-2eXpress (TALX), so chances are decent that you won't need to do much data entry in any case.

CompleteTax runs you through a brief tutorial on how the program works before you start, then takes you into the beginning of the data entry area. Like other tax sites, CompleteTax displays a working area in the middle of the page; you enter data and select from lists here. Hyperlinks provide explanations of some topics, and a A Help Me Decide link takes you out into a new window and asks questions to help you select the right answer. In Filing Status, for example, if you're married and you're trying to decide whether you're better off filing separately or jointly, you can click to get guidance. The competition, notably TaxCut, also provide this sort of help. Additionally, there are notes on some pages to explain salient points about the current page.

Tabs and sub-tabs at the top of each page indicate where you are in the tax process. You can click on sub-tabs to work out of sequence if you want, but it's always best to work through sequentially to avoid missing something. At the bottom of each CompleteTax page, you can check a box indicating that the page is complete, a convention competitors neither use nor seem to need. So when you click the Quick Navigation button, you can see which pages are complete or incomplete, which are topics with multiple pages, and which you haven't visited. I was puzzled by this, as it's not really necessarythat's what the review process at the end is for. Still, since it doesn't have any effect on your ability to finish the return, there's nothing wrong with it, and some might find it helpful.

The right vertical pane along each page serves as a complete guide to help resources. The top box contains some miscellaneous links to windows that display, for example, the return review, filing options, and messages. The lower box offers links to specific help tools. Help on This Page takes you to the Resource Center, which provides context-sensitive help. For example, when I was on the Rental General Information page, one question asked if the property was used as a vacation home. I wasn't sure of the exact definition of what qualified as a vacation home, so I clicked Help on This Page, then clicked the hyperlinked "vacation" in "vacation home," where I was given an explanation. In addition, the Resource Center contains links to good, thorough help screens for topics throughout the program, like Wages & Other Income (these will appear when you come to those sections, but you can read ahead if you want).

Additional help is available in the Resource Center (links to some of these are also displayed on the main working screens). The "Where Do I Enter " section is particularly helpful; it displays, in alphabetical order, voluminous items such as Passive Loss Carryovers and Scholarships. This is similar to the Search tool in TaxCut, and it can be a lifesaver if you've inadvertently skipped over something, or need to change a piece of data, and don't want to run through the whole interview again to find where to enter it.

Other help tools in CompleteTax include IRS instructions, a glossary, CCH's thorough tax guide, and e-mail and chat help. E-mail help is free, whereas chat will run you $4.95 per session. There's no phone help, something I found troubling given that even the least expensive product, TaxACT, offers itfree. TurboTax, on the other hand, charges $29.95 for a 20-minute call, and a free call is included with the price of TaxCut ($19.95 per session thereafter). I'd consider CompleteTax as falling somewhere between TaxCut and TurboTax where help is concerned. The product is quite good for the most part, but the unavailability of phone support hurts it.Next: CompleteTax's Return Review

Kathy Yakal has been annoying computer magazine editors since 1983, when she got her first technology writing job because she tagged along with her ex-husband on a job interview. She started freelancing and specializing in...

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